Overview

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is one of the most common ways to upload and download files from your server.

FTP allows you to access files on your server similarly to how you would navigate through the files on your local computer. While these tips may vary based on the particular FTP program that you use, in most cases, you can do the following:

Double-click on a folder to enter it.

Double-click on the special ".." folder to go back one level.

Double-click on a file to download it.

Drag-and-drop or double-click on files on your local computer to upload them to the server.

Right-click on files and folders to receive more options, such as the following.

Copy files

Move files

Rename files

Change file permissions

Delete files

SFTP is similar to FTP. SFTP stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol and is the encrypted version of FTP. SFTP is more secure and tends to be more reliable than FTP, so it is the recommended option where possible.

You must have SSH enabled for your Server Administrator on your Grid. For more information, please see this article.

You must also have SSH access enabled for your FTP user in Plesk.

Overview

The Managed WordPress service comes with SFTP access by default. SFTP is similar to FTP. SFTP stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol and is the encrypted version of FTP. SFTP is more secure and tends to be more reliable than FTP and is one of the most common ways to upload and download files from your server.

SFTP allows you to access files on your server similarly to how you would navigate through the files on your local computer. While these tips may vary based on the particular FTP program that you use, in most cases, you can do the following:

Double-click on a folder to enter it.

Double-click on the special ".." folder to go back one level.

Double-click on a file to download it.

Drag-and-drop or double-click on files on your local computer to upload them to the server.

Right-click on files and folders to receive more options, such as the following.

Copy files

Move files

Rename files

Change file permissions

Delete files

What you'll need to configure SFTP access for your Managed WordPress Service

What You Need for Grid

What You Need for DV

First, you need to set up your domain in Plesk. This process will prompt you to create an FTP username and password for the domain. See this article for instructions:

You will need an FTP client. If you don't have a favorite FTP client already, we recommend FileZilla. It is free, simple, and works with both Mac OS X and Windows.

You'll need to download and run your chosen FTP client.

Once you have your FTP client open, you'll need to fill in a few settings so that it knows how to connect to your Media Temple server.

Once you have your FTP client open, you'll need to fill in a few settings so that it knows how to connect to your Media Temple server. You'll need your hostname, username, and password. This can be found in the AccountCenter in your Managed WordPress site menu under General.

The SSH + SFTP panel on this page will contain the Hostname and credentials needed to log into your server using SFTP.

Hostname or server name.

Your hostname will look something like this prod.phx0.secureserver.net.

Directory path - this may or may not be required, check your FTP client documentation.

domains/example.com/html/

httpdocs/

Port number - this may already be set by default.

Port number

22

Passive mode - this may already be set by default.

Connection limits - this may already be set by default.

8 or fewer maximum simultaneous connections

Settings in Detail

Hostname or Server Name

This setting should be a domain name that resolves to your server. Your access domain is recommended, especially for SFTP. However, any domain name that resolves to your server will also work. Be sure to replace the 00000 with your own site number. You can find your access domain in the Server Guide.

This setting should be an IP address or domain name that resolves to your server. You can find your IP address(es) in the Server Guide.

Examples: s00000.gridserver.com, example.com

Examples: example.com

Username

Your username is the primary domain for your service. This is the domain name you picked when you purchased your Grid. You can find your FTP username in the Server Guide.

Example: example.com

Your username you entered when you added your domain in Plesk.

Password

This is your Server Administrator password. You can set your password in the AccountCenter.

Type in your new password, and type it again in the confirmation box. Make sure that your new password has at least eight characters and a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters, and numbers. Do not use dictionary words. See Strong Password Guidelines for further assistance.

Click Save.

While you are here, you can enable SFTP (and SSH) by selecting Enabled.

For DV 4.0, you will be able to reset your FTP password in Plesk. For security reasons, you will not be able to view the password.

TIP:

These screenshots are for the DV and Plesk 11.5. If you are on a DV 4.0 and are running Plesk 10.x, please see this article for upgrade information: How do I upgrade Plesk?

Log into the Plesk Control Panel for your domain.

From the Home page, click on Websites & Domains.

Next, click on Show More.

To add a new user, click on FTP Access.

Click on Add new user.

Enter a username, custom home directory, and password. Then click OK.

FTP account name: This is the FTP username.

Home directory: Click on the folder to navigate to the desired directory, or leave it with just / to grant access to all domains in that subscription.

These instructions are for changing your FTP user password in Plesk Onyx version 17.X.X. If you are using an older version of Plesk, it is recommended that you upgrade.

1. Log into your Plesk control panel and click on Websites & Domains.

2. Click on Show More select FTP Access from the dropdown menu.

3. To edit an existing user's password, click on that user and follow the prompts. To add a new user, click on Add an FTP Account. Once you've updated or create your user, click Save.

That's it! You've now updated your FTP username and password. The new login credentials should work immediately.

Make sure that your new password has at least eight characters and a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters, and numbers. Do not use dictionary words. See Strong Password Guidelines for further assistance.

Directory Path

Many FTP applications will ask you for a directory path or folder location. Typically, this will be used to display the appropriate folder on the server when you make a connection from your FTP client. Some FTP clients upload all your content automatically to the designated folder.

Two common option directory path options are to show a list of all your domains, or to show the web content directory (document root) for a specific domain. You should replace example.com with your own domain name, and 00000 with your actual site number.

The reason there are two options is that different FTP clients may interpret your folder structure differently. The first example in each pair has a local path to your folder, and the second has a full path from the root level of the server.

It is possible to use any path on your server, or to leave it blank if you want to go to the home directory for your user. The home directory for your specific user will be as follows:

serveradmin user, FTP: /home/00000/ (This is the same directory that you see when you click on the File Manager tool in the AccountCenter.

serveradmin user, SFTP: /home/00000/users/.home/ (This folder has a link to the domains directory, but for other folders you may have to go up two levels first. Double-click the ".." folder to do this.)

Other FTP users will have a home directory as chosen by you. See Add an FTP user for details.

Passive Mode

Most FTP clients use passive mode by default, but some require you to set it manually. Specifically, FileZilla requires you to manually set the passive type for the connection.

Connection Limits

The Grid will allow a maximum of 8 FTP or SFTP connections at once per IP Address.

DV allows an unlimited number of connections by default. However, it's generally a good idea to limit your FTP client to 1-5 simultaneous connections.

Some FTP programs will automatically open multiple connections when navigating through directories, uploading multiple files, etc. In that case, you will need to adjust your FTP client settings to limit the number of simultaneous connections.

If you have multiple people working on the server from the same office, you may also reach the connection limit that way.

Create a new FTP Account

For additional help creating an FTP account in your Grid account, please see the following article.

How to Use FTP

Fill in your FTP connection settings (described above). You may be able to create a profile for this site so that you don't have to enter your settings each time.

Connect to the server. You should now see files and folders on the server, and files and folders on your local computer.

Navigate to the correct folder. Typically, you will want to upload content to your html directory, because this is the directory whose content is displayed online for your website. Double-click on domains, then the folder with the same name as your domain, then html.

Navigate to the correct folder. Typically, you will want to upload content to your httpdocs directory, because this is the directory whose content is displayed online for your website. Double-click on the httpdocs directory to enter it.

Upload files from your local computer to the server. Typically, you can drag-and-drop files from your computer (your desktop, for example) into the FTP client window that's showing your server folders. You should also be able to find your files from within the FTP client, then double-click on them to upload them to the server.

You may need to wait a little while if you have a large upload. You should be able to navigate into different directories while an upload is proceeding. In fact, this can be a good thing to do if you notice the connection timing out during a lengthy upload.

That's it! When you're done uploading and downloading files, you can close the connection. If you uploaded new content to your website, you should now be able to see it when you visit the site.

Alternate Methods

While this is not recommended for uploading website files (you will run into permission problems), you can access higher-level folders on the server with the root user. Your username is root, the password is your root password, and you must use SFTP rather than FTP.

Browser FTP is neither supported nor recommended. Account Contacts can use the File Manager to work with server files from their browser.

TIP:

This is not guaranteed to work, but if you want to attempt browser FTP, you should use the following syntax in most browsers.

ftp://user%25example.com:password@s00000.gridserver.com

ftp:// - This lets the browser know that you want to make an FTP connection.

user - This is the first part of the username. For the main serveradmin user, you can skip this part.

%25 - This is a URL code for the @ symbol. Again, for the main serveradmin user, you can skip this part.

example.com - This is the second part of the username, which should be one of your domain names on the server. For the serveradmin user, this will be your primary domain.

@ - The @ symbol separates the username from the server domain name

s00000.gridserver.com - This is your access domain that resolves to the server.

Browser FTP is not supported or recommended. Plesk provides a fairly advanced File Manager tool under each domain, which can be accessed from your browser.

TIP:

This is not guaranteed to work, but if you want to attempt browser FTP, you should use the following syntax in most browsers:

ftp://user:password@example.com

ftp:// - This lets the browser know that you want to make an FTP connection.

user - This is the username.

@ - The @ symbol separates the username from the server domain name.

example.com - This is a domain name that resolves to the server.

For security reasons, the Grid does not support anonymous FTP. If you require anonymous FTP, you will have to migrate to a DV Server for this feature.

Anonymous FTP is not recommended as it presents a tremendous security risk to your server. However, it is possible to use for domains on an exclusive IP address.

Troubleshooting

There is no size limit for what you can upload via FTP or SFTP.There is no size limit for what you can upload via FTP or SFTP. However, with large uploads, it is possible that the connection could be dropped somewhere between you and the server. For this reason, it's good to use an FTP client with a resume feature, so you don't have to start over again with your upload. SFTP is more reliable than FTP for uploading large files.

On the Grid, the FTP connection times out automatically after 10 minutes of inactivity. If you were in the middle of an upload, you have a few options. You can do the following.

Connect again and resume.

Choose an FTP client that manually sends a Keep Alive signal to the server every few minutes.

Manually interact with the server every few minutes (by clicking on a folder, etc.).

Some kinds of files are hidden by default. The .htaccess file is the most common type of file to experience this, because it's a system-level file that begins with a period. Most FTP clients have a setting that allows you to view hidden files and folders. You may need to restart the client after setting this.

You cannot upload files to the top folder level for your domain. Enter the httpdocs, httpdsdocs, or cgi-bin folder, and you will be able to use FTP normally. If you need to affect higher-level folders, you will need to use a root or sudo user. See this article to enable root access.

If your FTP timestamps are from the wrong time zone, you may need to correct the FTP time zone setting manually. See this article.

You may notice that you can't log in with a particular FTP user, even after changing the password in Plesk. One possible cause for this is addressed in this Parallels article.

The FTP service is called xinetd.

When you connect with SFTP, you may receive an error message like "host key has changed." This means that a change with your domain has recently occurred, so the "known hosts" file that your computer keeps is now incorrect. To reset the file, see SSH known hosts warning.

Third-Party Applications

Here's a list of FTP applications that have been known to work with (mt) Media Temple servers. Click on the first link for a walkthrough specific to (mt) Media Temple. Click the second link for the FTP client's home page.

NOTE:

Third-party applications are not supported nor guaranteed to work with your specific configuration. For help with any specific FTP software, please consult its distributor.

CloudTech Can Help!

If you need help setting up a third-party FTP client, additional assistance is available via CloudTech, our premium services division. Our expert engineers can tweak and tune your server for optimal performance. For more information on what CloudTech can do for you, please click here.